Senate Passes ‘Jobs and Opportunity Agenda’

May 9th, 2018

Last Wednesday, the Senate approved its Jobs and Opportunity Agenda, a package of tax, regulatory, and economic development reforms “that will help make New York more competitive and foster job growth at a time when the state’s private sector faces widespread obstacles to success.”

Items from the Jobs and Opportunity Agenda include:

• a small business and small farm tax cut (S.2120-A);
• expanding the Minimum Wage Reimbursement Tax Credit (S.6793-A);
• providing time for businesses to raise concerns regarding new regulations (S.6095);
• providing for a review of and relief from unfunded mandates (S.5828); and
• examining the effectiveness of the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA) (S.2133).

The Senate’s bills will help boost job growth and help struggling business owners across the state, and not a moment too soon. Recent New York State Department of Labor data show that that Upstate employers are struggling to create jobs. With the exception of the New York City region, unemployment is on the rise in every community.

The detrimental impact of New York’s harsh business climate – with its high taxes, onerous regulations and costly mandates – is inarguable. We need the Assembly and Governor Cuomo to follow the Senate’s lead in providing commonsense relief to struggling businesses and taxpayers.